A woman left unable to eat or drink by a mystery illness has given birth to ‘miracle’ twins.
Ann-Marie Williams, 40, relies on a machine to keep her fed.
After a decade suffering from a severe unknown condition, she was gobsmacked when doctors told her she was 18 weeks pregnant with twins, reports Cornwall Live.
She gave birth to two healthy baby girls in January, Morwenna and Elowen.
Ann-Marie believes they could be the only babies fed exclusively via an intravenous machine while in the womb.
She was taken aback at first, and had shown no signs of a bump.
“It was an absolute shock, but a miracle at the same time,” she said.
“I missed a period in June and I did do a pregnancy test but it was negative so I put it down to my health and getting over sepsis.
“I then had a blood test done and it was off but didn't reveal I was pregnant. Some of my symptoms started to actually feel better at this time and I would have a few hours a day where I didn’t feel too bad which was strange, but I had no idea."
Ann-Marie has been hooked up to the machine that keeps her fed for four years.
She had been unable to digest food properly for ten years, ever since a week-long holiday in Turkey with her girlfriends.
She fell ill on her return. She had had flu symptoms that went away after a few days before she became permanently sick.
“I started losing weight and went down to eight stone,” she said. “The doctors just thought it must be something I’d picked up on holiday, but it didn't go away.”
Ann-Marie has taken countless medical tests, tried herbal treatments, and even taken part in gastric emptying study, which showed serious delays in her stomach and bowel.
After plummeting down to six and a half stone, she had a Total Parental Nutrition or “TPN” line fitted. The line pumps all the calories and nutrition her body needs, so that she doesn’t have to eat or drink anything. The same line fed her twins during her pregnancy.
Ann-Marie has been through more than most this year. She has recovered from sepsis three times, been diagnosed with Covid, and had a C-section to deliver her surprise twins. The news been a lot to take in.
Photojournalist Greg Martin visited Ann-Marie at her home last year. In the pictures she was 15 weeks pregnant but had no idea.
The mum-of-two, who grew up in the small town of St Just, near Land’s End, recalled the shock of finding out she was pregnant.
“I wasn’t showing,” she said. “But I would have this bulge in my gut that would come out and then go again and I was in a lot of pain.”
Doctors were worried and she was taken in overnight for tests where a urine test revealed she was pregnant.
“My mouth just dropped,” she said. “That can’t be right I thought and then everything just dawned on me. As she [a nurse] told me, the doctor arrived to take me for an ultrasound and there was this pause and I just knew he was going to say it was twins.
“I was in so much shock I was just crying and I couldn’t even look at the screen,” she said. “I had no idea how to tell my partner and I told him later in the day and he couldn’t even talk.
“I don’t eat or drink, I live off IV nutrition and these babies had survived that long. I didn’t even understand how it was possible."
Later doctors told her that the intravenous feeder would not have impacted the babies as it had all the vitamins and nutrients that Ann-Marie needed.
“Because I feel really sick all of the time I just assumed something was getting worse and then it got a little bit better, but I’m always extremely sick so I couldn’t have known,” she continued.
Then she faced a difficult decision. She wanted to be a mother, but didn’t know if her health would allow it.
“At the time I was coming up to 40 and I knew this could be my only chance of ever having children," she said. "But I didn’t know how detrimental it would be to my health and having twins is high risk anyway in addition to all my other things I’ve got going on.
“But they were kicking by then and I had to go through with it. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make but ultimately they told me that whatever decision I made that it was going to be high risk anyway and I was half way through the pregnancy."
Ann-Marie had a difficult few months and she was admitted to hospital on December 8 where she remained for eight weeks before giving birth via cesarean at 34 weeks.
"They were put on feeding tubes after birth for a few weeks and then they were okay," she said.
But Ann-Marie then contracted Covid-19 and was not able to be with her babies for some time.
Now, her parents and partner are helping look after the twins because Ann-Marie is too poorly.
She is still searching for answers about her longstanding condition.
"I'm trying to find a really specialist doctor and I'm at the point where I'm wondering if that person is even there, if they exist.
"I have spoken to lots of doctors and alternative doctors over the years and they all say there are lots of things going on and my situation is so complex that nobody knows where to start.
"I always have hopes to go to the beach with them [the babies] or go to the park with them," she said. "Socially I can't go out and do things with them and I don't know what the future holds and it scares me.
"It really frightens me that I'm never going to be the person I want to be for them and everyday I end up crying when I look at them. I had a great childhood and I want to do all those things for them and take them out in their pram.
"They are so beautiful and I want people to be able to see them. I'm so worried that they don't know who their mum is because I'm not able to provide all of that for them.
"All I can provide is cuddles and tell them I love them."
You can follow Ann-Marie Williams on her Facebook page Help to find a cure and support her at her GoFundMe page https://uk.gofundme.com/f/8azyc-help-to-find-a-cure .
